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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 495 498 P # 



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Copyright, 1912 
By M. CHAPPELL 



All Rights Reserved 



CHAPPELL ART SCHOOL 

Publishers 

Oklahoma City, U. S. A. 



Introduction 



Occupying over one-half of the profession known as 
Commercial Art, the study of lettering should have the 
student's extra attention. It will bring one the earliest 
financial returns, as it takes only a limited amount of study 
to produce work of commercial value and designs containmg 
hand lettering are used more generally by commercial enter- 
prises. 

For these reasons I would like to urge you to devote 
early and diligent study to this branch. 

In this book I have endeavored to eliminate the uncom- 
fortable dryness which seems to be linked with the early 
study of subjects of this nature by employing simple ex- 
planations, illustrations and keeping away from unnecessary 
details. However, after you have mastered the study suf- 
ficiently to produce creditable work, the dryness will be 
transformed into a fascination and your ability will be great- 
ly increased. 

The demand for hand lettering seems unlimited as it is 
becoming almost the exclusive mouth-piece for the Adver- 
tiser, as type printed matter cannot attract the attention as 
good hand lettered advertisements will. You will notice 
that magazine and newspaper advertisers will use a hand 
lettered heading to attract the reader and use type for only 
the discriptive matter. V^ery often you will find a complete 
hand lettered advertisement, as most of the large advertis- 
ers have adopted hand lettered advertisements exclusively, 
as type matter cannot produce the desired results, because 
it is limited to one uniform space for each separate letter, 
while hand lettering has plenty freedom for modification? 
and design work. The Author. 

-2- 
©CI.A320379 






Block Lettering 



The ordinary block letter has the largest use so I would 
like to call your attention to it first. 



RGUR6 I. 




F(6. 4-. 



DESIGN 



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Correct spacing has much to do with the appearance of 
lettering. A line of letters is most generally made for a 
given space, so you should indicate on your paper the start- 
ing and ending points of the line you are making. Draw two 
liorizontal pencil lines indicating the top and bottom of the 
letters, such as lines A and !'> in figure one. roughly layout 
the letters desired in light pencil similar to figure one. You 
should correct your rough layout until it has a uniform 
appearance and not crowded at one end and extended at the 
other. I would like to caution you against trying to place 
too much lettering in one line. It is far better to make a 
seccnd line than have your work look too crowded. 

After you have your rough layout uniform you can go 
over it and make the finish layout in the stvle of lettering 
desired, using your eye to measure the bounds for each sep- 
arate letter as in figure two. 



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You can ink-in your finished layout with good, dense 
black drawing ink and pen as illustrated in figure three. Use 
straight-edge and compass whenever it is possible so that 
the edge of the letter will be straight and true. The little 
crosses in D and G in figures two and three mark the center 
or compass point while the ruled lines can also be found. 

You can fill in the center portions of the letters with a 
small_ brush. The strokes of the brush are shown in the 
unfinished portion of G and N in figure four. 

-4- 



The correct letter-spacing is the most difiicult prohleni 
the student must contront, so 1 hope you will closely study 
the following rules. The simplest way to govern the letter 
spacing is to place your letters in your line so that the 
hlank or open space between each separate letter is near the 
same size in area as illustrated by the dotted lined portions 
XYZ in figure five. Use your top and bottom guide lines for 
hcunC'S and govern the area with your eye. 

The blank space between LA is the largest natural blank 
space possible. In this case you can decrease the area by cut- 
ting the horizontal bar of the L a little shorter than its nat- 
ural size or decrease this area by one of the three other 
methods shown in figure six. As a rule the round letters 
such as CGOQ should be spaced a little closer than normal. 
Full space letters as BDEHKHAINRUSXZ should be 
spaced the normal distance apart while open letters as 
AFJLPTVWY should be spaced very closely together. 
Train your eye so you can govern the area of the blank 
spaces between letters, as mechanical means cannot be suc- 
cessfully applied for this purpose. 

The correct amount of space each letter should consume 
in the line can be governed by using BCDGKPRSTXZ as 
normal and add i-io to OQVY, add 1-5 to A, add 2-5 to 
AIW and subtract i-io from EFN. 

The normal form of block letters is square, but they 
can be condensed and elongated without affecting the style 
or appearance. Condensing or shortening the width of the 
letter should not exceed one space wide by three spaces 
high. Elongating or lengthening the width should not ex- 
ceed two spaces wide by one space high. In condensing you 
can make letters LEFJNT a little narrower than other let- 
ters without affecting the appearance. 

Block letters are divided into two families, named 
Gothic and Roman. The Gothic letters have the same thick- 
ness of bars or body while Roman letters have alternatelv 
thick and thin bars. An important rule in Roman letters is 
that all bars of the downward stroke or extending from the 
upper left hand to the lower right hand are heaviest while 
the opposite bars are thin as in figure seven. 

-5- 



In order to overcome optical illusions you can make 
the horizontal bars in Gothic letters about i-io less in 
thickness than the vertical bars, otherwise the horizontal 
bars will appear a little the thickest. Round letters as 
r(;00 should run a little over the guide lines, or they will 
have a smaller appearance than the rest of the line. 



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V/Kf\ IlTiTlTjJI 

Care should be used in keeping the bars of each letter 
uniform, so your line will have an even and pleasing ap- 
pearance. 

Many different styles can be formed in both Gothic and 
Roman families, some by simply changing the little kerns or 
projections on the letter. Figure eight illustrates several 
different designs of kerns in practical use. You can make 
copies as near as possible of the complete alphabets in 
figures nine, ten and eleven, also copy the other illustrations 
in this book, as this practice will help you to get the cor- 
rect shape of each letter memorized. Use a center guide 
line in drawing the small or lower case letters, as shown in 
figure nine. Make your copies about twice the size of the 
illustrations in this book. After you have learned the cor- 
rect shape of letters you can make such modifications or 
fancy scrolls you desire. Do not use modifications that will 
greatly affect the easy reading. 



r«5URE 12 



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-6- 



FIGURE 9 ROMAN (HAND (fTfeREO) 

ABCDEPGHI 

JKLMNOFGl 

RSTUVWXY 




mnopQf.ytuvwx 

A small brush can be used for outlining large letters 
vvben inking over your pencil layout or sketch, as illustrated 
in figure twelve. Large letters are sometimes used in news- 
I^aper headlines, also in posters, signs and shovvcards where 
thev ran he outlined with paint and small brush. 

Shading and high-lights are important auxiliaries to let- 
tering. Shadows as a rule should fall to the left and bottom 
of the letter at the angle of 45 degrees. Shading on round 
letters should have a true crescent shape, gradually tapering 
to the points. A bad tendency is to let the shading protrude 
beyond the ec^^e of the letter. Figure thirteen shows several 
kinds of shading in general use. 



-7- 



FIGURE 10 GOTHIC 

ABCDEFGHIJK 
LMNOPQRSTU 
VWXYZ 12345 
67890$&.,;:-!? 

FIGURE 11 ROMAN ITALIC 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO 
PQRSTUVWXYZ 

abcdefghijk Im nopqrstuv 
wxyz 1234567890,:-;:!? 



Script Lettering 

Some of the most beautiful lettered designs are made in 
script. Although there is only one family of script there is 
more than one correct way of making certain letters. Figure 
fourteen illustrates the old and new ways of making script 
letters. You have the liberty to use either way. Script 
should be laid out in pencil before inking similar to block 
letters. 

Several modifications or styles can be formed from 
script. Figure fifteen illustrates one of my own origin. 
My script letters are built after a square pattern indicated in 
dotted lines. These lines are the same distance apart each 
way and the vertical lines slant fore ward at the angle of 
sixty degrees. These lines have nothing to do with the 
spacing of the script, but are shown here simply to illustrate 
the proper space each letter and scroll should consume. A 
blank space is shown in the side, leaving some of the letters 
free of lines. You can layout your paper in pencil similar 
to the dotted line for practice, but for commercial work I 
would suggest only the horizontal guide lines and use your 
eye for correct spacing. 

Uniform, harmonious and graceful curves add much 
to the appearance of script. Figures sixteen, seventeen 
and eighteen show some good script combinations. Note 
the unfinished portion in figure seventeen. This gives the 
method used in forming white letters on black back-ground. 
The letters are laid out in pencil, but when inking in you 
keep to the outer edge of the letter and fill in the back- 
ground with brush. 

-9- 



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ChAPPELL SCRiPT « 




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-11- 



Old English 



In making designs in Old English lettering you shculd 
make them as plain and simple as possible, as this style 
of lettering is not generally used and is very difficult for 
most people to read. Old English makes beautiful and 
tasty designs for refined society stationery. Copy the al- 
phabet in figure nineteen, which will also be good to re- 
fer to for correct formation of letters. Old English can- 
not be successfully monogrammed and but few modifi- 
cations are practical, but the letters can be decorated for 
initials as in figure twenty. Try to keep letters of this 
nature as uniform in appearance as possible. 



fiGVRE, iS SOaZTV OLD EtiaUSh 







-12- 



RGURE 20 



n(J0R6 21 




Combinations 



Scroll designs and illustrations can be combined with 
lettering but you should make the design work secondary 
or auxiliary to your lettering. Don't try to crowd or 
make your lettering fit the design but make the design oi 
illustration fit the lettering and not detract too much froni 
the easy reading. Figure twenty-one is a symmetrical de- 
sign. One side matches, or the reverse of the other side. 
In making a symmetrical design you should divide your 
space in the center and draw one-half of the design in 
pencil. Cover this with tracing cloth or transparent paper 
and trace in soft pencil, as in figure twenty-two. Mark 
center line and corners to aid in matching. Then reverse 
the tracing cloth on the undrawn side and go over it with 
hard pencil lines on the undrawn side of tracing cloth. This 
will transfer the soft lines to your drawing paper making 
you a complete lay out which you can ink in. 

-13- 



Figure twenty-three illustrates the marking of a draw- 
ing for reproduction. Indicate reducing size similar to the 
one above the drawing and when color tint cuts are desired 
you should indicate where the colors should be by the 
method shown, with light pencil, so that it will not conflict 
with the reproducing. A separate plate is required for each 
color printed, but one color can be printed over another mak- 
ing 1 combination color. Don't color your drawings for tint 



RGURE 22 



FfGURe 23 

j ^/^EDUtt TO 1 ,^H — )J 




\\ ^. c ^ 



colors, because they cannot be successfully reproduced by 
photo engraving process. Drawings to be reproduced 
should be drawn with dense black upon clear white paper 
or bristol board. Line-drawings in black and white, sim- 
ilar to the illustrations in this book are reproduced by 
"zinc-etchings", while drawings in several tones such as 
wash, crayon and retouched photographs are reproduced 
by "half-tones". Photo-engravers and most printers will 
give you any information and. prices on the reproduction 
(if your drawings, you desire. You can make several de- 
signs for merchants and manufacturers in your city, such 
as signatures, trade-marks, labels, ad-designs and cover 



-14- 



designs. By getting estimates on zinc etchings from ycur 
nearest engraver, you can give your customer an estimate 
on drawing and reproductions. 





In order to help you originate lettered designs and to 
illustrate the general nature of the customer's "copy", I 
have prepared the following six sample order lessons : 

No. i.^ — Make script signature design of "Millers 
Trunk Co ; 428 Fourth Ave., Toledo, Ohio". Size of cuts 
to be 4 in. wide by 2 in. high. 

No. 2. — Monogram in block letters ''O E Co." Cut 

No. 3.— Make magazine heading "THEATRE TALES 
size, 2x2 inches. 

by Charles Frohman." Make design suggestive of Comic 
Opera, Cut size, 5 inches wide. 

No. 4. — Make trade-mark design of "Kargol". De- 
sign must be 12 inches wide in heavv lettering. 

No. 5. — Make catalog cover design "SPRINT; SHOW- 
ING of MILLINERY". Edmond & Parish, Exclusive Mil- 
liners, Chicago, U. S. A. 



-IS- 



SEP 14 1812 

No. 6. — Make drawing of pretty girl drinking from 
glass, labeled "GLEN SPRING WATER". Draw a land- 
scape scene containing small brook in the back ground 
letter GLEN SPRLNG WATER across the top and "King 
of Table Drinks" across the bottom. Cut size, 2 columns 
wide by 6 inches high. 

NOTE. — As a rule customers don't give all the in- 
structions desired when ordering and you must use your 
own judgment and originality in making your drawing, 
^'ou should get as much instructions and ideas from your 
customer as possible, so it will not be a hard problem to 
make the design satisfactory. It is advisable to submit the 
pencil lay-out or sketch to your customer, as any necessary 
changes can be easily made before inking. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 495 498 A 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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